Quake delays divers China training

Sheila Mae Perez’s Olympic buildup hit a snag as her training was delayed for a month after the recent earthquake that struck China damaged their training venue.

“We were supposed to train in China last May but the earthquake prevented us from going there so we had to continue our training here,” said Perez, 22, in Filipino in yesterday’s weekly SCOOP sa Kamayan in Padre Faura, Manila.

Perez placed 16th out of 54 opponents in the 3-meter springboard event of the World Cup a few months back in Xian, China to clinch a berth in the Olympics in August.

Rexel Ryan Fabriga likewise made the Olympic cut in the 10m platform in the same meet to join Perez, veteran of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, in Beijing.

Perez, however, said they have trained as hard at the Olympic-class Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna although she admitted that it would have been different had they trained in China.

“Actually, it’s almost the same training here and China. The only difference is that we’re more focused in training when we’re in China because when we’re here, there are many distractions,” said Perez.

Perez said their goal is to make the finals or the last 12, a tough task considering they will be up against the finest divers from China, Ukraine, Australia, Tajikistan and Russia.

“That’s our realistic target,” said Perez.

Anne Dimanche, chair of the technical diving committee of RP aquatics, said the Beijing-bound divers are returning to China on June 26 to resume their training.

“They’ll be leaving on June 26 for China and come back home on July 26,” said Dimanche. – Joey Villar